


To a Soundtrack of Swords

by InsectKin



Category: Machineries of Empire Series - Yoon Ha Lee
Genre: F/F, it's a hookup fic but not explicit, let them be happy for one scene okay??, set in ninefox gambit, the scene I always wanted, which means the setup is strange but ...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-05-20 12:14:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14894439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsectKin/pseuds/InsectKin
Summary: There's a hiccup in the process of reverting Nerevor to fledge null. She uses the time to seek out Cheris.





	To a Soundtrack of Swords

**Author's Note:**

> Happy week before book three everyone!!! I wanted to write this a year ago and finally pulled something together for Machineries of Empire week, hope you enjoy.

The character on screen stamped their foot, twitched their hand towards the sword at their side. A moment later, the deltaform next to Cheris emitted a low series of tones.

"Three duels in the first half of an episode is a bit much even for me," Cheris agreed, but she was smiling. Earlier that day, Jedao had provoked her into an argument that resulted in one of her commanders volunteering to be wiped and handed over to heretics. She didn't like being used that way, and even if it was a clever move, she was still furious with both Jedao and herself. The undead general was wisely staying quiet. After a day like today, failing other options, the distraction of a good melodrama was exactly what she needed. 

The deltaform repeated the tones more insistently and she realized she'd misinterpreted. It was alerting her to a person requesting entrance to her quarters.

She rubbed her eyes with both hands, cursing colorfully but silently. It looked like getting a chance to enjoy an episode or two of her favorite show wasn't in the cards.

Or maybe it had been, but even without a body Jedao had somehow managed to get his hands on the deck. 

She stopped the drama as the first sword was being drawn and went to the door. She blinked twice at the person standing there.

Nerevor gave half a smile. "Hi."

Cheris' heart and stomach went in opposite directions. From a distance, Cheris had been able to stay cool about the fact that Nerevor was her exact fucking type, but up close the commander's eyes shone with a hint of mischieviousness that went straight to her head. But if the commander was here … 

"I haven't changed my mind," Nerevor said quickly, reminding Cheris of her bad habit of thinking with her face. "They just did the last upload of my memory and there's a minor issue they want to fix with the rest of the calculations. They'll revert me to fledge null and finish up in the morning." 

Cheris's muscles relaxed and she felt a wave of guilt at her relief that her commander hadn't decided she wanted to live. _You're a general_ , she reminded herself, though it came through in Jedao's voice. _These are the decisions you have to make_. 

But that didn't explain Nerevor standing in her doorway. "Do the techs need assistance with the calculations?" Cheris ventured.

Nerevor's smile widened. "Oh, no, that's not why I'm here." She ran a glove down the wall nearest her, shrugged. "It's my last night before reversion so I thought, why not enjoy it?" 

Ice shot through Cheris's veins for a moment, a panic that didn't come from her and disappeared as quickly as it came. She made a mental note to ask Jedao about it later, though she wouldn't; even undead arch-traitors deserved _some_ privacy. 

Once Cheris had regained control of her body, she straightened her face to her best imitation of what a serious general would look like. Formation instinct might make it impossible for her to take Nerevor up on her offer, but it would at least make it easy to dismiss her. "Commander, you need to leave immediately." 

After a few seconds of no movement, Nerevor burst out laughing. "Oh, I was hoping you'd say that," she said in between giggles. She stopped laughing but couldn't suppress a grin. "They removed formation instinct, too. Makes it easier to inject it full-strength after the reversion, they said. But in the meantime, it feels so _good_." She wiggled her gloved fingers and her smile faded a little. "I will, of course, leave if you want me to. I just thought you should know the formation instinct is gone." 

The next feeling that shot through Cheris's body was definitely hers, and the images flashed through her mind in quick succession: her hands undoing the clasps of Nerevor's uniform, Nerevor's lips on Cheris's neck, on her –

"You're blushing, General." Hearing this from Jedao was only marginally less embarrassing than it would have been from Nerevor. When Cheris returned her focus to the other woman, though, she could see that her flush hadn't escaped the commander's attention. Even without formation instinct, there was still a difference in rank ...

"I already did my last backup, so even if I survive being a hostage and miraculously get restored, I won't remember," Nerevor offered, seemingly as good at reading her thoughts as Jedao was. "If it's awful, what have you lost?" 

Cheris wanted to invite Nerevor in – wanted to badly. But there was another consideration they hadn't addressed. As if on cue, they both glanced at Cheris's shadow and the nine glowing eyes.

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Jedao sighed, exasperated. "It's nothing I haven't seen before."

Cheris made an effort to keep her expression even as she subvocalized a response. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?" 

"It is, in fact." A pause. "The anchor setup makes it impossible for me to promise not to watch, but if you keep the melodrama on, I give my word to pay as much attention to the terribly choreographed duels as possible. And, look." The shadow's nine glowing eyes floated into a line, and – somehow, miraculously – closed. 

Nerevor voiced Cheris's confusion. "I didn't know they could do that."

"Neither did I." 

Nerevor looked up from the shadow, gave Cheris half a smile. "Well?" 

Cheris bit her lip. If she said no, Nerevor would walk away, and she'd probably never have another chance. With formation instinct gone, there were no more excuses. And she'd wanted to spend the evening getting her mind off her problems …

"It's your decision," Jedao said inside her head. "But for what it's worth, if I had a body, I know what I'd do."

The deltaforms scurried out of the room as Cheris pressed the button for the melodrama to resume. She didn't notice that the servitors had considerately closed the door behind them, because at the moment it shut Nerevor's face was only a breath's distance away and Cheris's mind had, for the moment, stopped working.

Their first kiss was to the soundtrack of swords clashing. Clumsy dialogue filled the room as gloves fumbled at uniforms, and a victor's shout echoed the first time Nerevor's lips touched Cheris's bare stomach. 

Three episodes of the melodrama had played, one after the other, by the time Nerevor and Cheris lay naked, panting, tangled together on the general's bed. Nerevor stroked Cheris's hair and she blinked back tears, suddenly fighting the urge to cry. 

Tonight was all she had with Nerevor. Tomorrow, the commander would be wiped and be sent off to – most likely – die. Of all the things she'd been considered before letting Nerevor into her bed, how had not wanting her to leave not been one of them?

"I could have told you you'd get attached," Jedao said, reading her face in the most annoying way possible. 

"Stop doing that," Cheris replied, accidentally speaking aloud. Nerevor dropped her hand and Cheris realized her mistake. "No, not you. You … can keep doing that if you want."

Nerevor gave a low laugh that shook the shoulder Cheris lay on, and she returned her hand to the general's hair, twining and untwining in the thick strands. The silence was comfortable.

"I may ask for another backup before they wipe me," Nerevor said. Cheris looked up at her and she lifted one corner of her lips. "With your permission." 

Cheris's heart gave a soft double beat. "Permission granted," she said quietly, "on the condition that you do everything possible to come back in one piece." 

They both knew she wouldn't remember this conversation when it mattered, and both politely ignored that fact. "I promise," Nerevor said. 

Cheris pressed a kiss to her collarbone and closed her eyes, letting the commander's fingers in her hair lull her into sleep.


End file.
